G77

My suggestion would be to find a company that has operations in Canada and try for a transfer i.e. one of the large outsourcers or as you say you're in finance, one of the banks..... You'll find that trying to apply for this kind of role direct into Canada will be difficult if not impossible if you're not in Canada.

Cavok

Anyone having an idea how job opportunities in the IT-sector are when visiting Canada on a WHP (Working Holiday) Visa for one year? (Not resisting of course when I can get an offer to stay longer )

I am a 25 years from the Netherlands, having a BSc in Software Engineering and around 2 years of work experience working for a Financial institution (writing small software applications, maintaining the financial software system, giving support to end-users etc...).

I am planning to land in Vancouver and look for work in the Vancouver or Kamloops area.

R I C H

You might strike it lucky and find an opportunity that suits your experience in Kamloops, but it's a small city and good IT jobs are not commonplace.

feijoa

Hi all,
I hope it is ok to post on this thread. I am hoping someone can offer some advice, suggestions or something as to where to go for job opportunities. Have tried the links in other posts and have sent PM's but nothing so far so thought I would put a career overview on here and see what turns up. We are keen to get to Canada and have applied for PR but don't want to wait the expected 3 years to get our application looked at (I know everyone is in the same boat but I also know we need other people to help us make this a reality ).
So anyways, here is a brief career overview. I look forward reading what people have to say.
Feijoa

I am 42 years old and initially come from a Telecommunications background. I moved into 'pure' IT delivery, then into Project Management for three years, and then moved into consultancy for a large corporate within NZ.
I have telecommunications qualifications, a Bachelors degree in Business Studies (the Canadian equivalent is a business management degree), am MSCE certified, SANS GSEC certified, CISSP certified, have covered Level one ITIL (and now also Level two), and have intermediate qualifications in Project Management. I have also successfully navigated three Management papers with the NZ Institute of Management.
Because I have a background in both IT and telecommunications, I am able to lead a team who have a wide range of skills and specialties, as I do now. I guess ideally a management role would be my aim, but if this is no-go, then I have had much success as a consultant or project manager.
I and currently work for the NZ Govt agency tasked with making sure our Govt agencies adhere to sound ICT security practices and principles, along with investigation of 'serious' electronic attack, providing Intelligence support to NZ military and diplomatic missions, and ensuring the ongoing integrity of highly classified computer systems.
I have been in my current role of Unit Manager for three years, where I am responsible for two teams, each consisting of seven specialists.
One team produces and promulgates NZ national ICT security policies, in line with accepted global standards. This team also audits classified systems to ensure they meet the required standards. This work is based on CISSP and ISO 27000 standards and guidelines, along with 'enhanced' requirements for the classified and military environments.
The other team attempts to 'break down' popularly used software and operating systems, engages in 'blue' team and 'red' team exercises on behalf of Government clients, actively seeks (via honeynets etc) new and known aggressive attacks and attackers. the information they garner is disseminated within the NZ Government and to 'partner' countries (including Canada), on a 'need to know' basis.

Mr and Mrs B.

Hi folks,

My wife & I will be arriving in Canada in just over a month on a TWP, all being well. I have managed an inter-company transfer, working for a well known IT services company (its not IBM!).

I have to say the main hub for banking, for example, is Toronto, where I will be based. Toronto the home of a lot of the larger companies that you will be used to working for, and I belive offers the most possibilities in this line of work. I am not familiar with whats available to Vancouver but the little I know does not suggest that IT is a big sector there.

Anyhow I'm a townie - who wants all that nature stuff !

Cheers,

Mr B.

Yoong

Hi There,
Here are small IT companies in BC and other provinces that are backed
by Venture Capital Funds.Jobs info can be found on the websites.
Thought I have the link posted just in case people want to work in
young IT companies that have potentials.

http://www.growthworks.ca/investment...ment_list.aspx

Good luck,
Yoong

feijoa

Thanks for that Yoong. Will look at them now

cedric

Hi there,

I have been following this thread since it started and found it really interesting.

I can see that the demand for pure IT staff is high all over Canada but my background is more in marketing database. So as you would have guessed does anyone know if there is a demand for people having experience both in marketing and managing databases?

I have roughly 10 years experience in working with databases in a marketing environment. I started within a marketing database department for a catalogue company that used to be based up north and I am now working in a direct marketing agency for blue chip clients (bank, retailers).

My role is a mix of marketing and database administration. I work with MS SQL (2000 and 2005) doing database design, implementation and administration. I do a lot of programming SQL, T-SQL, SSIS... I also work with MS Access, Excel (doing VB programming), Business Object and different mapping software. Marketing wise I do campaign analysis, selection, reports...

I checked some of the websites quoted in the different posts but there are not many jobs advertised (at least in marketing database roles). If it's like the UK the demand exists but as job seekers find a new position quickly companies don't really advertise. Do you know if it's the case in Canada? I am a quick learner and if needed I am ready to move forward a DBA role.

Any one who can help or comment is welcome.

By the way both my wife and I speak English and French (fluently). Ideally we are looking to relocate in the Atlantic Provinces (Moncton being our preferred choice).

nursey16969

We are looking for a move to Kamloops, and found it very easy to find, my husband has been in the it field for around 21 years and is currently a virtualisation architect. We have been on the skilled worker list (permanent residents) for nearly a year, but have not looked for work direct with employers. What do yo suggest we do? My husband is 44 and I am 38. We are both studying at the moment for our BSc with the open university, but Husband already has a diploma. Husband is doing a BSc in Maths and computing,and I am studying BSc in Life Sciences. Any suggestions to get us to Kamloops quicker?

Louise

nursey16969

We live in Basingstoke
Just want to be in Canada, hoping to get to Kamloops soon

Dave+Jules

I would try the local enterprise/tourism agencies for their marketing vacancies. Approach them directly with your skills etc and test them for potential role. I am sure they will be feeling the pain of poor availability of skilled people.

On the DBA front can you get some certification before you come over? Being fluently bi-lingual means you should easily find some sort of work here in NB.

Coffeepot

Did you look at the post by Airseir on page 5 i think, he is in Kamloops and was helping people a few months ago ?
]
wish you luck and let us know

3monkeys

hi we have just started the process we like the look of NB and NS we are not sure what IT jobs are out there. Would it be best to try for PNP route or the skilled worker route. We are in the UK. My husband has 24 years experience in IT with C and UNIX skills, Sql oracle or sybase. Any advice greatly received thanks

Kul

Hello, sorry if this is going to be too much information to plough through. Basically when my OH was looking for IT employment, we set up a number of job alerts. All the following are job websites that we found catering for IT. Unfortunately they do not seem to have one overall search site like Jobserve UK/USA/Australia. The closest seemed to be Indeed which covered a numbered of jobs. He is an Oracle DBA and part of the requirements he needed for a TWP was Oracle DBA certification - it's not the be all and end all of getting over here but it certainly helps.

http://www.allcanadianjobs.com/home.shtml

http://www.itharvest.com/

http://www.bctechnology.com/frameset_emp.html

http://www.canadait.com/cfm/index.cf...Id=1&Se=2&Lo=2

http://www.workopolis.com/work.aspx?...inView&lang=EN

http://www.careerbuilder.ca/ca/default.aspx

http://canada.indeed.com/ (This seemed to cover a lot of other search engine jobs)

http://www.wowjobs.ca/BrowseResults.aspx

http://jobsearch.monster.ca/

http://www.excelitr.com/english/jobs...tionID=4059671

http://www.headhuntersdirectory.com/canada.htm ( We used this to try and locate personnel agencies)

http://www.ecdev.gov.bc.ca/ProgramsA...O/so_links.htm (BC PNP information)

3monkeys

hi thanks for the web sites i will get my husband to look through tonight when he gets home